Dear Editor:
We wish to respond to both Barbara Robson’s letter to the editor and Karen Matheson’s views expressing opposition to the proposed bylaw with regards to chickens in the back yards of private homes in Summerland. We totally agree with both views.
We have lived in the middle and far east as well as South Africa and have experienced first hand chickens, from a few to many, in residential back yards, and also experienced the numerous vermin that chicken coops and yards produce.
These vermin can be anything from mice, rats, snakes, racoons and animals of prey such as coyotes, bears and wolves, and any other animal that is hungry.
It might be fine for someone who has a minimum of three to five acres outside the town boundaries, but a house lot within town boundaries, small or large, is definitely not the place for chickens and their coop, no matter the number.
In addition, the smell is at times unbelievable to those in the nearby area and just wait until the wind blows. Who knows how far the smell will travel.
This is definitely nothing that our busy town council should be wasting their time and energy on.
You’ve done your due diligence; now get on with the bigger questions and problems of running a first-class town properly, such as employment, aiding new businesses, lowering our electricity costs, water purification or lack of, etc.
What about education? What can you as a council do to aid children in their education or any after-school programs for Kindergarten to Grade 12?
As for Mrs. Robson’s note on the rainbow crosswalks in Summerland, we are in total agreement that the way to make everyone feel “inclusive and welcome” is not to single them out.
Also, the money spent on these two crosswalks, approximately $4,000 plus labour, could easily go into breakfast assistance at our Summerland elementary schools for the needy and unfed children or something along that line.This would certainly give these children a better chance at a more productive education when their stomachs are full.
Maarten and Beth Bonten
Summerland